How to Fix Small Shoulders and Build Big, Broad Shoulders

Wide big broad shoulders are one of the premier traits associated with masculinity and we would be hard pressed to find a man with his head on straight being totally honest claim he didn’t want wide impressive shoulders.

Big wide shoulders can even cover up other not so desirable physical attributes. Making a man look slimmer, stronger and fitter than he really is. To stack the case even higher in favor of big shoulders women often cite big shoulders as one of the most, if not the most important physical attributes desired in a potential mate.The problem is some men get dealt a fantastic set of cards genetically and naturally have a wide frame with intimidating shoulders in tow while other men get the shaft with narrow frames and flimsy shoulders.If you fall into the second category it may seem like you have an excuse to admit defeat and wallow in self pity but you don’t Because there is a solution!You can raise your testosterone levels naturally and side effect free with proper supplementation combined with effective weight training and the only outcome of that magical pairing is your shoulders will become behemoths the historians speak of for centuries to come.

One of the biggest reasons women like big shoulders is they are the primary catalyst for creating the infamous “V” shape body men and women equally desire. Well actually women really really like the V shape, probably more than men and if you want that bait on your female chasing lure your gonna need some solid shoulders.

How Testosterone Affects the Width & Broadness of Your Shoulders

There is a vast amount of correlation with shoulder width and testosterone levels. Especially during puberty. During this phase teenage men with higher levels of T always develop bigger shoulders while the converse holds true as well. Low T male teenagers develop small shoulders and a narrow frame. This also contributes to male gyno or man boobs.The reasoning behind this is more than the face testosterone helps build muscle. It goes a bit deeper than that. The shoulders are the most androgen receptor dense muscle groups in the male body. Androgen receptors jobs, among others, is to injest testosterone molecules into the actual muscle and activate the protein synthesis process the body uses to grow more muscle.So yes, high T helps build muscle in general but it is especially influential when building shoulder muscles in particular. This also explains body builders at the gym blasted on steroids have upper bodies way out of proportion with their lower bodies.Yes the phenomenon is more than just bro dudes skipping leg days, although that certainly isn’t helping them. Even those who don’t skip leg day often still may have larger upper bodies because the density of receptors is higher and thus they get a bigger bang for their buck per lift.

Luckily, you don’t need to take steroids to increase your testosterone, you don’t even need to take testosterone in the form of TRT (although this is a healthy option for many men, especially over 60) you can increase your testosterone levels naturally enabling you to beef up those shoulders and claim the V shape women dream about.

Exercises to Widen your Shoulders

All the testosterone in the world won’t do much if you’re not working out your shoulders to promote muscle growth. Proper exercise is going to do more for your shoulder size that raw testosterone will, plus exercise is one of the best ways to increase T levels anyway. Exercise is a double whammy in this case.

Your shoulders are comprised of 3 major muscle groups. The front shoulder known as anterior deltoid, the middle section called medial deltoid and the rear portion posterior deltoid. You will need to target all 3 groups in a balanced effort for your shoulders as a whole to get the look you want.

More often than not, men make the mistake of using too light of weight and extremely high number of reps while only doing isolation exercises. Meaning exercises that only work one part of the shoulder out at once, instead of multiple parts in varying degrees as a whole. If your goal is to produce big wide broad shoulders this isn’t going to do the trick.This advice isn’t just for shoulders, but really for any muscle group. When you are specifically targeting gains in the terms of size and muscle it is much more effective to use heavier weights with decreased amount of repetitions. This leads to bigger, wider, broader and stronger shoulders. The stuff legends are made of.

As your shoulders get stronger, you can increase the weight which in turn coupled with high testosterone levels allows you to go even bigger, even wider, even broader and even stronger with your shoulders.It is a vicious cycle of awesomeness that leads to big broad shoulders and the classic V shape that drops panties faster than underage drinking on prom night.

Below are some of the basic and most effective exercises that help shape your shoulders into big broad monstrosities.

Military Press

If you ask the average buff dude in the gym “How do I build big broad shoulders?” The first answer will almost always be directing you to do military presses. This is because it works all 3 sections of your shoulder, involves multiple joint movement and requires you to use your stabilization muscles as well. As such it is extremely effective and beneficial to building bigger shoulders.

Don’t be fooled by fancy machines and flashy advertising, this press is more effective than every other shoulder machine in the gym. On your path to bigger broader shoulders the military press should be one of the core exercises in every shoulder workout.

Now actually doing the military press you have a few options. You can stand or sit and use either dumbbells or a bar to execute the exercise.

The Arnold Press

This is very very close to the military press but has a few minor tweaks in positioning which focus extra resistance on the anterior deltoid created by the one and only Arnold. If you own some dumbbells and are wondering a good way to get broad shoulders at home, this is your ticket.

Below is a video showcasing the form and positioning. Take extra note of the palms and hands.https://youtu.be/vj2w851ZHRM

Side Lateral Dumbbell Raise

Continuing our quest for bigger, wider stronger shoulders we have the side lateral raise. This exercise primarily targets your “middle shoulder” or the medial deltoid. Generally speaking in most men this is usually the weakest and most underdeveloped section of the shoulder. Because of that, this is a very important exercise as it will level the playing field and prevent your medial deltoid from getting left behind. It is not as strong of a strength building exercise as the military press is, but is effective for creating quick visual benefits. Because the medial deltoid is usually underworked, focusing on it with a multi joint movement will quickly change the contour and perceived size of your shoulder. It will make you look stronger faster than working out the other two sections of your shoulder will.

Below is another video showing the proper way to execute this exercise by Scott Herman.https://youtu.be/3VcKaXpzqRo

Rear Lateral Dumbbell Raises

The last exercise in our “how to get bigger shoulders” quest is the rear lateral raise. This focuses on building your rear or posterior deltoid section of the shoulder and is our personal favorite section to work out. The rear shoulder adds to the classic V shape with wide shoulder from behind and the side creating an intimidating profile.

Below is the last instructional video. There are multiple variations of this exercise both sitting and standing, once you master one variation be sure to try out other variations to give your shoulder the most rounded and versatile workout possible.

Closing

That really is all you need to build big broad shoulders that demand respect! Really, you can do variations of those exercises for different effects, but those 4 exercises are all you need. Don’t listen to people telling you that you need to do obscure variations with awkward grips on some goofy machine. Stick the basics and boost your testosterone naturally to achieve the big broad, wide and strong shoulder look you know you want.

“How to build big massive wide broad shoulders” TLDR version

Focus on heavy weight, low rep compound multi joint movements. Ask yourself” how many joints are moving during this lift? Should be at least 2You can get away with doing mainly military press for great results

Look into and incorporate methods to boost your testosterone levels naturally, this will guarantee that you have adequate amounts of the muscle building male hormone testosterone, to stimulate the protein synthesis in the androgen receptors of your shoulder muscles.